feat(Facebook): Add Hide sponsored stories patch

[PantlessCoding]

Hello, I created a new patch for Facebook that removes sponsored stories in the main feed.

Tested with com.facebook.katana versions v478.* v480.* any DPI variants.

This patch will only work with variants Min API 30 (Android 11+) .

TODOs :

• Enable hiding of different type of stories/content (ex.: Boosted posts, annoying suggested groups, shorts, etc.)
• Make this and future patch part of an integration once I figure out what I'm doing

This is my first Android hack and first GitHub contribution ever, so let me know if any comments or remark about this PR as a whole.

Thanks!

[cyberboh]

Any chance android 8 and 9 patched too? #3285

[PantlessCoding]

@cyberboh Not easily, the problem is that the packages targeting earlier API version have an almost completely different code base. The classes getting patched here simply does not exist. It's the same issue with the other Facebook patch you reference.
The newer android API versions seems like a complete native code rewrite versus the use of a web container. Might be doable, but with a different approach that require a lot more investigation.

[oSumAtrIX]

I've refactored the code. Please test the changes. Apart from that LGTM.

[PantlessCoding]

Made it, it became complicated quickly! Basically I found another method that retrieve SponsoredData with the model ids I need but for a different sub-type of entity. The method is easy to fingerprint, but I can't use it directly since I can't cast to the correct type in my context. Instead I just grab the ids and call the base method directly via a helper method. The helper also cast the sponsored data to the generic type, this is fine since we only check for null, but it makes it so it should work on any entity that has sponsored data. Man that app is heavily obfuscated...

[oSumAtrIX]

Would it be possible to move the method you are adding to the class to integrations? It may not add much value though since you need to patch that method anyways to insert the instructions, so I'll merge as is.

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[PantlessCoding]

Would it be possible to move the method you are adding to the class to integrations? It may not add much value though since you need to patch that method anyways to insert the instructions, so I'll merge as is.

No problem, will see what can be done on future patches. Next, I really would like to find a way to support API29 variants. On that note, is there a way to specify minimum API version on patches like for the version number ? If not would it be relevant to add ?
Also how should I handle patches for a an app that has a different code base on some variants, That would be based on if some fingerprints resolves or not ?
Thanks !

[oSumAtrIX]

A patch can read the minsdk from the manifest. But why would the patch not work on versions below that.

If two apps have different code base, you can abstract your code so it fits both. You can slso use share a fingerprint between patches

[PantlessCoding]

Thanks. In this case, Facebook release simultaneously a minAPI29 and a minAPI30 version. From my initial look, it seems like the main reason patches does not work on API29 (the other Facebook patch included) is that the classes are "superpacked" and decompressed at runtime. After that, it is likely that it's the same code in the end. I will see what can be done with that.

[oSumAtrIX]

That sounds reasonable. A patch can technically decompress the dex, modify them and then compress them back, but this would need some boilerplate work which isn't really worth it.

[mindplay-dk]

This patch will only work with variants Min API 30 (Android 11+) .

for the record, it's listed as "works with any version" - I came here trying to find out why it failed to patch.

you should probably add a note explaining which versions to use it with.

[mindplay-dk]

hmm, it failed with the latest Android 11+ release as well. maybe it used to work? or else I don't know what I'm doing wrong - there is an endless list of releases, I think you need to specify what this is expected to work with. I couldn't find a recent release that works.